Cardiologist Shares Diet Tips For Hypertension Patients, Anything?

Vegetable illustration (Randy Fath / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A cardiologist who is a member of the Indonesian Cardiovascular Specialist Association (PERKI) Dr. Bambang Widyantoro, SpJP(K), PhD, shares dietary tips for hypertension patients. One of them is limiting the consumption of salt which helps control the patient's blood pressure. "Salt consumption, this plays a very important role in controlling blood pressure," he said at a press conference “ Indonesian Heart Doctor and Blood Vessel for Morotai, From Early Detection of Cardiovascular Diseases to Stunting Prevention ” in Jakarta as reported by Antara. Salt contains a lot of sodium. Referring to PerKI guidelines, sodium intake should be limited to two grams per day or the equivalent of five grams (one teaspoon) of kitchen salt. For hypertension patients, sodium intake is even lower, to 1.5 grams per day or 3.5-4 grams of salt per day. In addition to salt intake, Bambang, who practices at Harapan Kita Heart and Blood Vessel Hospital, recommends hypertension patients to avoid foods that contain a lot of fat, but increase their intake of vegetables, fruit and nuts. Not only food, but hypertension patients are also advised to maintain a healthy weight, which means they need to lose weight if they are obese. "Losing weight and maintaining ideal weight, regular exercise and highly recommended quitting smoking," said Bambang. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) obesity is an excessive buildup of fat due to an imbalance in energy income with energy expenditure for a long time. One of them is said to be obese if one has a body mass index (IMT) of 25.5 - 29 which is obtained by calculating the weight in a kilogram unit divided by a square of height in meters (kg/m). Obesity is one of the factors related to the emergence of cardiovascular disease because it causes endothelial cell damage in blood vessels. Endothelial cells are a single layer that coats the entire vascular system. "Blood clots will become stiffer and more prone to stiffness, increasing the risk of blood pressure starting to increase," said Bambang.